I totally share what was said by Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov.

In addition, I would like to add a few words. First, I want to express my gratitude for the invitation to pay an official visit to Russia. This is my first visit after the reappointment as Foreign Minister.

Today we had another opportunity to refer to the entire spectrum of the bilateral relations, to discuss issues of mutual interest, regional and international issues. There are a lot of such matters, but all of them are discussed and resolved, as they should be discussed and resolved between allied countries.

As always, our talks with Sergey Viktorovich are held in a very constructive and very friendly manner, and it is natural because it is happening between friends, between the Ministers of two allied countries.

We touched upon trade and economic relations, which actually have very good development trends. Last year, trade between the two countries increased by twenty percent. This was only during one year, and if we look over the past five years, there will be serious figures. Today in total amount Russia is the first investor in the Armenian economy.

More than 1,300 enterprises with Russian capital operate in Armenia.

We have been successfully working with intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, we have good cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries, close military and military-technical cooperation. Extensive contacts have been established between the Parliaments, in the near future a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee is scheduled. Inter-regional relations are successfully developing that involve all the regions of Armenia and more than 70 regions of Russia. Scientific-cultural relations are actively developing.

We cooperate closely in the framework of international organizations. Regular consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs are held, seven such consultations were held on various topics last year, this year there will be not less.

We agreed to continue our close cooperation in international organizations such as the UN, CSTO, CIS, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC, in other international and regional forums.

Of course, we touched upon a number of regional and international issues.

We discussed issues concerning regional security, particularly in our Caucasus region. Special attention was paid to the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Russia, as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and in general, as one of the major countries, which plays an extremely important role in ensuring stability and security in our region. I can talk a lot about the negotiations held, about our relationship. I confine myself to this, and we look forward to your questions.

Interfax news agency. A question to both Ministers. What is your assessment of the effectiveness of cooperation between Russia and Armenia in the framework of CSTO?

Edward Nalbandian. Well, I can say that I share what Sergey Viktorovich said. Armenia is a very active member of the CSTO. We participate in all endeavors, initiatives of CSTO, we are working closely with Russia and other members of the organization.

ITAR-TASS Agency. A question to both Ministers. Is there any recent progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement?

Edward Nalbandian. I would say that there is no serious progress, but I can’t say that the process is in deadlock either. The negotiation process continues. A new meeting of foreign ministers is scheduled in the near future. This is likely to be in May in Krakow. A meeting at the highest level is not excluded, the Co-Chairs have repeatedly been in the region in recent times. In recent months three meetings of Ministers of Foreign Affairs were held. So the process goes on. Another thing is that the process is not having progress as one of the parties sets a non-constructive position, rejects nearly all the offers of the Co-Chairs.

APA Agency (Azerbaijan). The countries of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as Azerbaijan, stated that the status quo is unacceptable. What is the position of Armenia?

Edward Nalbandian. Armenia's position is in line with the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, expressed in the four statements by the Presidents of the Co-Chairs in L'Aquila, Muskoka, Deauville, Los Cabos. It is also in line with the position that was expressed in the statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, adopted in the frames of ministerial meetings of the OSCE in Helsinki, Athens, Almaty,Vilnius, Dublin and at the Astana summit.

If the Azerbaijani side is truly against the maintenance of the status quo, it should not have rejected the Co-Chairs’ proposals. As you know, this is exactly what happened at the summit in Kazan. But not only in Kazan. The same happened at the previous meetings in Sochi, before that in Astrakhan, earlier in St. Petersburg. Azerbaijan not only rejects the proposals on the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but also all proposals concerning confidence-building measures - such as the withdrawal of snipers, the consolidation of ceasefire, the creation of a mechanism to investigate incidents on the line of contact.

Recently, at a meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Azerbaijani delegation tried to draw attention to the fact that Azerbaijan fully supports the position of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

To this I replied that with all due respect towards the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, if that organization makes the 101st statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it won’t bring the parties closer to the settlement. It would be much better if the Azerbaijani side agreed to come to the settlement on the basis of the four above-mentioned statements of the Presidents of the Co-Chairs, as did Armenia.